Reader in the country of Hearts
by SakuraTeaParty
Summary: Welcome! I see that you've stumbled across this wonderful place known as Wonderland! Take my hand, dear reader for we must hurry or else we'll be late for tea! Don't fret m'dear, there is nothing to be scared of here! Just be careful poppet! For one of the inhabitants may capture your heart!
1. Introduction

Dear Reader,

You have cordially been invited to the wondrous world of Wonderland. I, Sakura Tea, hereby invite you to come venture with me to the far off lands and to discover a story of your own.

I implore you, however to be cautious of the men who reside within this mysterious land as they may possibly steal your heart itself.

With all of that said and done, come with me reader and let us take off to this strange, enticing land.

We must hurry, dear reader, for we mustn't be late for tea.

Sincerely,  
Sakura Tea Party.


	2. Follow Me ((Peter x Reader))

_*This is an alternate universe story where Alice doesn't exist. Just so that it makes more sense._

"Don't come back until you've learnt your lesson!" Your father screams at you, literally tossing you out of your house by the back of your collar.

Landing on the ground with a flutter of your skirts and a loud thud, you wince at the sharp pain spreading from your bottom upward. "Well then- I won't be back." You mutter, abruptly standing up and dusting off of your dress.

Storming to your backyard, you try to clear your head from the cloud of rage that has filled it.

Ever since your mother had passed away, your father had turned into an alcoholic- which was not the best thing in the world for you. He would always start to scream at you for no reason, like today, he had become suddenly infuriated with you when he had heard that the maid had quit.

The very maid that you knew for a fact that he was sexually harassing.

Now with her gone, he needed an outlet for his alcoholic outburst and as it turned out- you were it.

So now here you were, gloomily sauntering about your humongous backyard. You weave in and out of trails, trailing your fingers along the flower beds as you walk by them, looking down at their different shades with thoughtful eyes.

These were the only thing left from your mother.

Heading towards the incredibly tall camper tree in the centre of your backyard, you suddenly gather your skirts and run towards it.

This was your favourite place in the world. Where everything, even time itself, seemed to slow and then stop just for you while you gaze up at the endless blue sky.

You do exactly that. This was the place that you always ran away to when you got into a fight with your father.

It was this place that you felt at your safest.

Free from the cruelty of the world, from the sadistic gods whom had stolen your mother from you, safe from your vicious father and most of all free to just be yourself.

Lying down onto the soft, green grass you place one arm beside you am the other behind your head as a pillow. Tracing out shapes and other things with your mind, you create stories and tales with your imagination to pass the time.

When even that proves to become dull, you instead take another trip down memory lane.

You recall a time when you were merely five years old, your family: your mum, father and yourself, had say outside in the garden, it was your birthday and for your party your family was having a picnic.

"[Name]!" You mother had called and you, still so young and clad in a brightly coloured dress, had ran to her with a bright smile plastered upon your face.

"[Name] look-" your mother had said, pointing at a small rabbit which had ventured out into a small clearing near where your family had settled.

Your childish, doe eyes had widened even bigger than they previously were when you see it.

As though sensing your eyes on it, the rabbit turns and looks at you, ears twitching as though in anticipation.

Your [Eye colour] eyes meet the creature's red ones and in a very small voice, you whisper "Peter. His name is Peter."

Your mother looks at you in confusion but then her face softens into a pleasant smile. "Whatever you want, sweet heart. If you think its name is Peter, than it can be Peter." She tells you, squeezing your much smaller hand in her larger one.

You watch sadly as the rabbit hops away, disappearing quickly enough into some low bushes.

"[Name]! It's time to have some cake, darling!" Your father had called from the picnic blanket that the food has been carefully placed upon.

You and your mother turn to look at him. "C'mon sweetie, let's go." Your mother tells you, picking you up and carrying you with her back to the picnic blanket.

You peer over her shoulder at the clearing where Peter has returned. He stares at you with his blood red eyes, and you swear that you see him wave at you with a single white paw.

You wave back, a very small movement with your right hand before he runs away again.

Your eyes snap open, the only sound that you can hear is the wind rustling and some birds chirping overhead.

You hadn't realised you had fallen asleep but already you can tell by the suns position that you had been asleep for at least two hours.

Standing up and looking around with half lidded eyes, you wait to see if you could hear anything else.

In the distance, you can hear music. You assume that it's from inside your own house but immediately you know what song it is.

A smile begins to play on your lips as you begins to mumble along with the words.

"Flowers bloom within the Spring, the sky spreads eternally in summer...they've been engraved and are sparkling within the deepest confine of my heart..." Your voice grows a little louder as the music begins to consume you. "Rain falls down in the morning, as I watch from behind the shut window...the light from my chest I know, is from. The heavens in which the originate-"

You laugh and twirl around, tilting your head back for your favourite part in the entire song. "Joy and sorrow, I hold them both close with the memories of my past. Your hand in my hand and my hand in your hand-" suddenly, you can feel someone standing behind you. You feel their hand slip into yours and then you hear them sing the last line of the song: "together, they create a strong bond."

You instinctively snap away from the stranger, a scream had formed in your mouth but had died on the tips of your tongue upon seeing him.

He is clad in a red plaid jacket, there are chains hanging off of it then beneath it is a pink shirt with brown stripes by the collar. He has tan brown pants, darker brown shoes to match.

Your eyes grow wide when you see what is sitting atop of his Snow White hair- a set of bunny ears which seem to be very, very real.

Your eyes meet his, the same blood red ones you had seen from all of those years ago.

A name forms in your mind and without thinking about it, you whisper it aloud.

"P-Peter?" You ask.

The man smiles, his entire face lighting up with it as he does. "So you do remember me!" He chirps.

You stare at him, vaguely aware of the fact that he still has your hand clasped within his gloved ones.

"How- how did you know the wo-words to that song..?" You ask, trying to pull your hand away but that only causes him to tighten his grip on it.

He chuckles, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world before he suddenly yanks you forward and towards his chest.

Snaking both of his arms around you, he literally sweeps you off of your feet and into his arms.

A scream rips from your throat as he does. "L-let me down! Please!" You scream at him. He just shakes his head and gently lets you down onto your feet, although he keeps your hand firmly in his.

"Follow me." He tells you and when your expression of utter horror towards him doesn't change, he softens his tone and repeats himself. "Please, follow me-?" He asks.

You look briefly towards your house but then when you recall how horrid your house is- how boring and dark it truly was, your grin at Peter and tighten your grip on his hand.

"I'll follow you."


	3. Fairy Tale ((Julius x Reader))

*in case you guys haven't realised, none of the chapters are related to each other. They're just some oneshots that I've written based off of random bits of inspiration.

Julius stares at you with incredulous eyes. Their colour is smudged with heavy traces of a) surprise that you were even in the clover tower and b) annoyance that you had disrupted his work. Although he knew instinctively what you were.

An outsider.

He had only ever heard stories about them, never- not even the wildest of his dreams did he imagine that he would be able to see one.

Now here you were. Standing in front of him with eyes as wide as dinner plates, filled with a storm of emotions: fear, curiosity, excitement, worry, guilt, mischievous, amused...

It was odd really, to see you standing here before him. To most role holders, Outsiders were merely a thing of fairy tale- a story that would be told when they were children.

Now to see one- to see you was-

"What are you doing here?" He asks, trying to keep his voice as level as possible and becoming quite pleased with the outcome when he sounds genuinely bored.

"Oh- I-I'm sorry-!" You mumble, rubbing your arm in a nervous fit. "The- um- Peter brought me here and-" he cuts you off with a scoff.

"That explains it- so then you're an outsider, I presume?" He asks, lazily scanning you from the tip of your [hair colour] head to your bare feet.

As much as he hated to admit it, you were beautiful.

You nod very slowly, vaguely aware that Peter had also told you that an Outsider was what you were.

His breath hitches for a very brief second but he covers it with a small sound of annoyance with his tongue. "Do you have a place to stay?" He asks, fully prepared to dish you off to one of the other role holders.

You shake your head before you look at him straight in the eyes. "C-could I stay here?" You ask.

His heart skips a beat- why would it do that? He can feel a little heat form on his cheeks as he clears his throat and debated in his mind wether or not to let you stay.

You would be a nuisance to his work, you would bother him- he tries to think of some other reasons but finds with a jolt of surprise that he cannot.

With a defeated sigh, he gestures for you to follow with a small wave of his hand. "You can stay, but don't bother me whilst I am working. Come, I'll show you to your room." He says, and without turning to see if you're following he sets off down the stairs.

It was odd having someone else in the tower with him, other than Ace- the Knave of hearts- of course.

You, unlike him, could hold up civil conversations. You assisted him in his work- or at least you tried to with the best of your abilities. Your coffee wasn't the best but it was certainly getting better the longer that you stayed with him.

It was nice.

"Hey Julius," Ace asks, siting casually on top of his work desk.

Pretending to be unfazed by the fat that Ace was sitting where he was trying to work, Julius keeps his eyes focused on the small clock that he was currently trying to fix. "What is it?" He asks in a very monotoned voice.

"Do you love [Name]?" He asks, looking over at him with curious eyes.

He was lucky that you were out picking up some more gears because if you had heard Ace say that Julius would have strangled him without a second thought.

Julius nearly drops the clock in his hands, his eyes wide in both surprise and embarrassment.

Was he in love with you? That was preposterous! But then...why did he allow you to stay with him in the tower? He usually hated having people around, so why you? Why did he find himself enjoying your company and looking forward to the coffee you would make for him every afternoon? Why did he find himself staring at you every so often when you thought he wasn't looking?

Reaching across the table for a screw driver, he tries to take his mind off of the topic but soon finds his efforts futile.

Setting both the clock and the screwdriver down on the table, he leans back in his chair and lets out a deep breath.

"I-" he starts but is cut off by the sound of you coming in through the door.

"I'm back-!" You tell them, a simple brown paper bag cradled in your arm.

"Hey, [Name]!" Ace calls, waving at you with one hand before hopping off of the table and then going to help you with the bag.

Julius watches you as you hand the bag to Ace, saying thank you in the process. He then watches as you turn to him, a bright smile forming on your lips as your eyes meet.

He recalls what he had first thought of you, the day you first arrived in this country.

You were a fairy tale.

He feels his cheeks go red as a realisation dawns on him. Breaking eye contact with you, he instead picks the clock back up and begins working to fix it without once looking up.

Ace laughs from where he is standing, fully understanding the poor clock makers embarrassment. You tilt your head to the side, making [hair colour] locks tumble along with your head as you stare at him with wide [eye colour] eyes.

It was obvious now, at least it was to Ace why he was so fond of you- even if he would never admit it.

He was in love with a fairy tale.


	4. Innocent Mistake ((Ace x Reader))

"Ace."

"Yeah?" He replies, peering at you from over his shoulder.

"Are we lost?" You ask, for what seems like the millionth time that day.

He chuckles, his entire body shaking as he does. "Nope, why would we be lost?" He holds up a large piece of paper for you to see as well. "See? I have a map! How could we be lost if We have a map, right here?"

Instead of being relieved, you feel more panicked than ever as you take the sheet of paper from him. "Ace. You are holding the map upside down!" You half shout, flipping it so that it is now right side up.

He grins sheepishly, moving aside some low hanging branches so the two of you can pass through. "Was it?" He asks "I didn't realise that it was, sorry [Name]-.."

You sigh, shielding your eyes as you take a look up at the orange tinted sky. "Hey Ace, it's getting dark- where are we, seriously- I'm starting to get worried!"

He laughs again, but you can no longer see where he is. "Ace? Ace, where are you?" You call, feeling your heart begin to pound as the fear starts to ebb into your mind.

After a moment, when there is no reply to your calls, your breathing becomes shallow to match your unusually fast beating heart. "Ace, this isn't funny!" You call.

He still doesn't reply so you stop walking. A sniffle escapes you as the sun finally disappears over the horizon. "Ace!" You look around desperately "Ace, where are you!"

You feel yourself become hysterical as you hear a wolf howl off in the distance. "Ace!" You call again, tears threatening to make an appearance.

"You don't have to call my name so many times, I can hear you." A voice from your right suddenly says.

You whip around to see Ace, sitting beside a small fire that he had made with a tent- from where you had absolutely no idea, whilst roasting some sausages on the fire.

"Ace! Where the heck did you go?" You shout at him. He looks up at you, confused. "Go?" He asks, innocently "I didn't go anywhere. You were the one who kept walking even when I stopped."

You glare at him, rubbing your arms to try to keep them warm. He smiles at you, his usual cheerful grin and it makes you blush. "Come sit by the fire, we won't be able to find anything for a while so we may as well camp out." He tells you.

With a loud sigh, you reluctantly go and sit by the fire, deliberately sitting as far away from the Knave as you possibly can.

Ace hums as he cooks the sausages, occasionally pulling them out to see if they have been properly cooked.

You stare at the fire however, trying to keep your mind occupied on something other than him but you still find yourself stealing glances.

The tendrils of flames make his brown hair look nearly orange, well- at least the parts where the light reaches. It illuminates his face, making his blood red eyes appear to shine. As though he can feel your eyes in him, Ace looks over at you. His smile never falters as he continues with the task at hand.

You frown at him, but after a while you give up and rest your head onto your shoulder. Feeling drowsiness begin to consume you as you stare at the very welcoming flame before you.

"Y'know what's really ironic about this?" You ask, instantly making him turn to you with an eyebrow raised "I deliberately said that I didn't want to go camping with you but- well, here we are."

He nods, although something in his expression makes you feel suspicious about him. "Do you want a sausage?" He asks, holding the stick out to you for you to take one.

You shrug and take one, savouring the taste of it in your mouth as it was the only thing you had to eat all day. "So where is the tent from?" You ask out of pure curiosity. "From my jacket, I carry it around with me just in case." He says, taking a bite of his own as he does.

You stare at him incredulously. "You just carry that thing around? All the time?" You ask and to that he nods.

Shaking your head, you sigh...again. "Well I'm going to sleep- wait...are we sharing the tent?" You ask, eyes growing wide as you do.

He nods, completely oblivious as to why you are so flustered.

You shake your head, getting up from your seat and dusting yourself off.  
Ace, at the same time, also gets up and stretches his arms above his head "I think I'm going to sleep too- it's getting pretty late, huh?"

"Yeah..." You mumble, taking off your shoes and scuttling into the tent. Moments later, Ace joins you.

The inside of the tent has two blankets spread out, presumably one for each of you. In between them is a lantern, the only light that there is because Ace had out out the fire outside. "Hey A- what the heck are you doing?" You suddenly shout at him as you see what he is doing. Ace stares at you, confused.

"Are you really stripping?" You ask, face going beet red at the sight of him unbuttoning his shirt, his jacket lying on the floor in a heap. "No, I have a shirt underneath here." He tells you, pulling off that shirt as well to reveal that he indeed does have a black shirt underneath.

"Oh.." You say, tugging off your socks and lying down, snuggling into the blankets.

You hear him shuffle about beside you, then it grows silent. You assume that he lied down as well. You stare up at the roof of the tent for a long time before they flutter shut. You try to will yourself to fall asleep But when that proofs futile, you slowly open your eyes again.

"Hey Ace?" You ask and it surprises you how quickly he responds "Yeah [Name]?"

"Despite the fact that we're lost, I had fun today-" you tell him, feeling suddenly embarrassed. His laughter doesn't help your predicament.

"No worries." He says and you smile. Letting your eyes flutter shut as you do. Sleep finally comes and when you dream, it doesn't surprise you that Ace is there as well.

When you wake up the next morning, you are vaguely aware of a pair of arms wrapped around you.

Groggily waking up, you turn and nearly scream when you see how close Ace is to you.

Feeling you moving around, Ace stirs awake and smiles at you. "Good morning~" he chirps, face going bright as he smiles widely.

You scream and then the only other sound within the entire forest is that of a resonating slap.

"Did you really need to hit me?" Ace asks, walking behind you as you weave through the forest.

"Yes. I did need to hit you. What kind of pervert just- just-" you trail off as the embarrassment consumes you. Instead you focus your attention on the map and walk forward.

"But [Name]-!" He whines.

You are about to say something to get him to shut up when suddenly you realise that you are no longer in the woods but instead are now standing at the gates of the Castle of Hearts.

When you turn to look at Ace you see that he, in no way looks surprised and a thought suddenly dawns a upon you. "Did you know that if we walked for a little while more we'd be at the Castle?" You ask. He shrugs and smiles at you again. "Wait- holding the map upside down- did you know that we weren't lost?" You ask.

Ace chuckles and when he sees the murderous glare that you are sending him, he shrugs sheepishly. "It was just an innocent mistake..." He says.

You groan an walk past him, into castle grounds. Ace follows and whistles cheerfully. "Well you know, one good thing that came out of this was that we did get to go camping after all~" he sighs "and your heart beat sounded so nice.."

Thus another slap to the face is ensued.


End file.
